Watch-movement.



PATENTED AUG. 23, 1904 C. KUENZEL. WATCH MOVEMENT.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. 7, 1904.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented August 23, 1904.

PATENT DEEIQE.

WATCH-MOVEM ENT.

SFECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 768,290, dated August 23, 1904, Application filed April 7, 1904. Serial No. 202,026. No model.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTOPHER KUENZEL, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in lVatch-Movements, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention for the improvement of watch-movements pertains to a novel construction and combination of the mainspring-barrel and the top plate.

An object of the invention is to provide a construction wherebythe barrel, including as a part thereof the barrel-wheel, the inclosed mainspring, and the barrel ratchet-wheel, may be all removed from the watch as one by the detachment of a separable, part or section of the top plate and without the necessity of first detaching the barrel ratchet-wheel from the barrel or removing the main portion of the top plate to disturb the bearings and engagements of the center wheel and pinion, the winding mechanism, or other parts of the movement.

Another object is to provide an improved means of connection of the barrel ratchetwheel with the barrel conducing to cheapness and simplicity of construction, durability, and reliability, and with an entire avoidance of any likelihood of the barrel ratchet-wheel loosening from its connection with the barrel.

The invention includes in a watch-movement the combined barrel provided with a concentric upwardly-extending hub having the barrel ratchet-wheel secured thereon and the top plate constructed with edgewise-adjoining sections recessed at their adjoining edges to form a bearing for said barrel-hub, said plate-sections extending between the barrel and its ratchet-wheel and means for separately confining said plate-sections in place; and the invention includes and consists in additional features of construction hereinafter pointed out in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and set forth in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the portion of the watch-movement comprising the barrel and the separable sectionallyformed top plate. Fig. 2 is a sectional view as taken on the line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the outer part or section of the two-part top plate. Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the same as seen at its opposite side and showing an adjacent edge por-.

vplate, and B represents the barrel, including or having combined therewith the cup-shaped barrel-wheel C, having the oppositely-extending post or pivot members a a, the lower one stepped or in bearing in the pillar-plate, while the upper one has a bearing centrally within the hub-provided portion of the cup-shaped barrel B.

D representsthe mainspring, provided, as usual, within and reacting between the barrel and the cup-shaped barrel-wheel C.

E represents the center pinion on the same arbor, as usual, with the center wheel E (Jr represents the ratchet-wheel for the barrel, being affixed thereto, this wheel having the functions of a ratchet-wheel and having a click device 7) coacting therewith, although the so-called ratchet-wheel G has, as is very common, its teeth formed as spurgear teeth.

The barrel has at its top and concentric with its axis an upwardly-extending hub (Z, preferably integrally formed and provided with a necked-down upper end portion, which is externally screw-threaded to receive the screw engagement thereon and down against the shoulder at the junction of the neckeddown portion with the hub proper, (Z.

The top plate is composed of two edgewiseadjoined sections J and L, provided with semi circular recesses g g at their edgewise-adjoined portions, as shown in the perspective views, to embrace the hub (Z of the barrel, the top-plate sections being recessed within their marginal portions to give space for occupancy of the barrel and to leave comparatively thin portions adjacent the adjoined edges to overlie the top of the barrel and to extend between it and the ratchet-wheel G thereabove k In for the one L.

By making the plate J L in the separable sections, as shown, the recessed adjoined edge portions 9 g embracing and constituting the journal-bearing for the barrel-hub, it is possible and, in fact, most convenient to remove the barrel in its entirety and inclusive of the therewith-connected barrel ratchet-wheel Gr, barrel-wheel C, and the inclosed mainspring without disturbing the other parts of the watch-movement, it being only necessary to remove the screws la Zc, slide the top-plate section L edgewise outwardly, slightly loosen the screws'z' i, so that the top-plate section J may be slightly elevated, whereupon the lower barrel-pivot may be lifted out of its lower piliar-plate bearing and the barrel as a whole edgewise removed.

The pillar-plate at its marginal portion under and radially relatively to the barrel has at its upper side a groove or recess on there in, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, whereby the lower member of a tweezers (represented by the dotted lines min Fig. 2) may be inserted under the barrel, while the upper member of the tweezers may engage over the top of the barrel, so that by the application of the tweezers in the manner indicated the barrel may be slightly lifted and then edgewise drawn from its position in the watch-movement, leaving all of the other parts of the movement in their appropriate relative positions.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a watch-movement, the combined barrel provided with a concentric, upwardly-extending hub having the barrel ratchet-wheel secured thereon, and the top plate constructed with edgewise-adjoining sections, recessed at their adjoining edges to form a bearing for said barrel-hub, said plate-sections extending between the barrel and its ratchet-wheel, and means for separately confining said plate-sections in place.

2. In a watch-movement, the combined barrel provided with a concentric upwardly-extending and integrally-formed hub having the barrel ratchet-wheel secured thereon, and the top plate constructed with edgewise-adjoin- 1ng sections, recessed at their flClJOlIlll'lg edges to embrace and form a bearing for said barrel-hub, said plate-sections extending between the barrel and its ratchet-wheel, and means for separately confining said plate-sections in place.

3. Inawatch-movement, the pillar, or back plate, and the combined barrel and barrelwheel concentrically pivotally engaged, and the barrel-wheel pivotally set in the pillarplate, said barrel being provided with a concentric upwardly-extending hub having the barrel ratchet-wheel secured thereon and the top plate constructed of two edgewise-adjoined sections, recessed at the adjoining edges to form a bearing for said barrel-hub, said plate-sections extending over the barrel, and between it. and its ratchet-wheel, and means for separately confining said plate-sections in place.

I. In a watch-movement, the pillar or back plate, and the combined barrel and barrelwheel concentrically pivotally engaged, the barrel-wheel being pivotally set in the pillarplate, and said barrel being provided with a concentric upwardly extending, integrallyformed, external]y-screw-threaded hub having the barrel ratchet-wheel screw engaged thereon, and the top plate constructed of two edgewise-adjoined sections, recessed at their adjoining edges to embrace and form a bearing for said barrel-hub, said sections engaging over the barrel, and between it and the barrel ratchet-wheel, and means for removably confining said plate-sections in separate place.

5. In a watch-movement, the pillar or back plate, having at its inner face the recess m,

leading from its edge and the combined barrel and barrel-wheel concentrically pivotally engaged, and the barrel-wheel pivotally set in the pillar-plate, said barrel being provided with a concentric, upwardly-extending hub having the barrel ratchet-wheel secured thereon, and the top plate constructed of two edgewise-adjoined sections, recessed at the adjoin- 

